


Rasen~Sacrifice

by cestlavieminako



Category: Kamen Rider Saber
Genre: I wafted this over canon it's fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29889066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cestlavieminako/pseuds/cestlavieminako
Summary: Touma and Daishinji go poking around the Southern Base and find the last thing they'd expected.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 16





	Rasen~Sacrifice

Kamiyama Touma had no idea what they would find when they snuck into the Southern Base. 

At best, they would find proof that Reika wasn’t what she seemed. Perhaps they would even find Sophia hidden away somewhere; it couldn’t have been coincidence that she had vanished just days before Reika had shown up and divided them.

At the very worst, they would find themselves with swords pointed at their throats, possibly wielded by the swordsmen that Reika had turned against them. Or at least turned against Touma. But now that Daishinji had decided to stand beside him, it was entirely possible that now he’d be seen as some kind of traitor.

But they had to try.

When they arrived at the base, it was silent, to a rather eerie degree. Was there anyone else there, besides Reika and the swordsmen she’d stolen away from the Northern Base with her tales of deception and conspiracy? But then again, Touma hadn’t ever seen, or heard about, any other swordsmen from the Northern Base. Surely if they were fighting to keep the Megido from invading, their forces should be more than a scant handful of warriors! When he had first heard of the Southern Base, Touma had assumed they’d have their own Riders, even if it was only a half dozen like their Northern counterparts.

But they saw no one as they crept through empty hallways, trying to keep any noises to a minimum. Just because it looked deserted didn’t mean it actually _was_ , and Touma didn’t want to borrow trouble by assuming they were alone, not as the Book Gate grew further away with each step they took into the massive building.

Daishinji suddenly froze in his tracks, and Touma barely managed to keep from running into his back. He watched the other man’s head turn in one direction, then in another, before he turned to face Touma. “Someone’s coming.”

“I don’t hear anything…”

Daishinji tapped his ear. “ _I_ do. We need to hide before they get any closer, or they’ll see us,” he hissed.

Touma didn’t want to be skeptical—he knew that Daishinji’s hearing was much more sensitive than his own—but he couldn’t help the small paranoid voice in his mind that wondered if Daishinji truly _had_ left the others behind and rejoined Touma because he believed what was happening was wrong. Or was it an elaborate scheme to make Touma lower his guard, until they could make their move and take away Rekka and his Books?

Seeing the indecision on Touma’s face, Daishinji breathed out a soft sigh. “I _am_ on your side, Touma. But that won’t matter if we stay out in the open and wind up discovered. We have to hide. _Now_.”

Finally, Touma nodded, and they glanced around their surroundings, both of them seeing the door tucked away behind a pillar at the same moment, and they quickly scurried toward it. Touma grasped the handle, praying it was a well-used door and wouldn’t creak and give them away, and that no one waited on the other side.

The door opened quietly, revealing stairs that led downward, the way dimly lit by torches on the walls. A basement? Or, Touma wondered, his throat suddenly feeling quite dry…a dungeon?

But then Daishinji was hustling him onto the stairs, and Touma had no choice but to take several steps downward as Daishinji joined him, tugging the door shut behind him, and the dark stairwell suddenly seemed much darker. 

“We can’t stay here,” Daishinji whispered, his voice barely audible. “If whoever is coming should open the door and we’re standing right here, we'll end up captured. I’m not exactly sure where this leads…but we need to go down.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Touma sighed. It wasn’t as though they had much choice, did they?

Daishinji reached up and took one of the torches from its holder, and they made their way down the stairs, as slowly and quietly as they could manage, but not so slow that they’d still be visible if the door were suddenly opened.

Somehow, Touma had expected to be going down stairs for much longer than they did, before he stepped from the heavy wood of the stairs onto what felt like…he would have said concrete, but did that even exist here? Maybe it was rock of some sort. He quietly informed Daishinji that they’d reached the bottom, moving just enough to let the other man join him on the floor, before looking around.

The area was lit by a strange, rather eerie blueish glow, even though Touma couldn’t see any kind of source for the light. It made his skin crawl for reasons he couldn’t quite explain, and he would have happily gone right back up the stairs if that had been an option. 

He and Daishinji took a few hesitant steps forward, both of them seemingly not wanting to go any further into this strange room, but they simply didn’t have a choice.

As they inched forward, Touma realized that it was, indeed, a dungeon. At least they hadn’t seen any prisoners yet, Touma thought with some relief. He was quite certain that, if she’d had her way, Reika would have happily locked him away in one of these dark cells. He liked to think that the other swordsmen wouldn’t allow such a thing, but given how they’d been fighting him lately, he couldn’t be certain of that. 

God…how had things gone so wrong? First they’d lost Kento—and that loss still hurt like a knife in the gut—and then barely a few days after that, when they should have been celebrating Calibur’s defeat and remembering Kento’s life, a life that should never have been cut as tragically short as it had been…

Touma stopped in his tracks, squinting as he looked into one of the cells they’d been about to pass. Every other cell’s door had been thrown wide open, but this one was closed. And there was definitely someone within, someone who blended in so well with the odd lighting, that Touma had nearly missed them. They were swathed in dark robes, the manacles around their wrists attached to a chain that was secured to the wall, and that seemed to be the only thing holding them upright. As it was, they hung heavily from the chains, and Touma had no idea if they were alive, dead, or simply unconscious.

Then, as if sensing they were no longer alone in the room, their head slowly lifted, and Touma sucked in a sharp breath.

“Kento…”

Kento stared at them both blankly, as if he’d never seen them before, before a look of pain crossed his features.

And then, even in the dim lighting, they saw the darkness rolling off his body, heard him whimper softly as it thickened into a menacing cloud around him.

Touma was moving before he even realized it. He yanked the cell door open, thankful it wasn’t locked, and drew Rekka, seeing flames dance along the sword’s blade.

The tendrils of darkness that had begun to reach toward him seemed to draw back when they sensed the heat emitting from his blade, and Touma didn’t think twice before stepping in, swinging Rekka once to sever the chain from the wall, carefully catching Kento with his free arm as he began to topple over, cradling him carefully against his own body. “Kento…you’re safe now. We’ll get you out of here.”

“Touma…” Kento purred, lifting his head to meet Touma’s gaze. Touma sucked in a sharp breath when he saw Kento’s eyes flash red, and his fingers tightened around Rekka’s hilt. Was Kento beyond saving? Had…had he been locked down here ever since he’d vanished, with only the darkness to keep him company?

Kento’s hand ran up Touma’s chest, fingers moving up to his neck, before he sucked in a breath, squeezing his eyes shut. This time, when they opened, they were back to their usual deep brown, and Touma couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh of relief.

“Touma…you need to leave.” Kento saw Touma’s eyes widen and knew he was about to protest, so he continued, “They left me down here so the darkness could fully consume me. I was barely conscious when I was brought here…but if Calibur acquires a third user and they are defeated…something terrible will happen. They’re counting on it.”

“Who’s ‘they’?” Daishinji asked.

“I’m not certain. I couldn’t see their faces, and I didn’t recognize their voices,” Kento replied, trailing off with a wince of pain. “Whoever wields Calibur’s power is used as a sacrifice. They…they need three to fall, three souls, before they can do…whatever it is that they’re planning.”

“I’m not leaving you behind,” Touma stated. “We can figure something out…save you from this fate…”

Kento shook his head, forcing a small smile to his lips. “It’s too late for me.” He winced again, a soft whine of pain echoing in his throat as the darkness began to rise from his body again. “I’m glad…that I at least got to see you one more time, Touma.”

He knew he needed to let go. He needed to persuade Touma and Daishinji to leave. There was no way to help him now, not after being engulfed by the darkness for so long. He had no way to keep track of how many days had passed, but the darkness had been present the whole time. It had been so insistent, trying to invade his mind, trying to crush that small glimmer hope that he held tight to in his heart, even now, now that Touma was truly _there_.

Kento’s hand moved up, fingers brushing along Touma’s jaw, before moving up into his hair, slowly drawing him closer.

If he was doomed…surely this would be all right, wouldn’t it?

Their lips touched, and Kento wanted to weep. He’d been dreaming of this moment ever since he’d come to Touma’s bookshop months ago, once he’d found out that his dear friend from childhood was still alive, after such a long time apart. Feeling Touma return the kiss with considerable enthusiasm, even as he was pulled closer, was something Kento never would have imagined happening.

His heart was pounding. His chest felt hot.

Then Kento was pulling away from Touma, a loud cry of distress leaving his lips and echoing off the walls, and he caught sight of Touma’s concerned face before he was falling to the floor, feeling as though he were suffocating.

Then he was retching, spitting great globs of a dark, tar-like substance onto the floor. Kento was dimly aware of Touma and Daishinji’s words of concern, but he couldn’t focus on them right now. 

Finally, it felt as though there were nothing left in him, and Kento used his shaking arms to push himself away from what he’d expelled from his body.

As he laid on the cold floor, trying to catch his breath, he realized that he felt lighter, as if an enormous weight had been lifted off his body. He lifted a hand, expecting to see darkness rolling off it as usual, but there was nothing.

Time passed—it could have been seconds or hours, Kento wasn’t certain—before he felt Touma’s hands drawing him to his feet, an arm going around his waist. He wanted to protest, but when he looked up into Touma’s eyes, anything he’d been about to say was immediately forgotten.

“I won’t leave you behind,” Touma murmured.

Kento couldn’t help but lean against him. He felt so weary, so tired he could have laid down right there and slept, but…he didn’t want to be there any longer. He would stay awake as long as it took to get out of this god forsaken place.

There was a sound of surprise from nearby, and they worried that someone had come down and discovered them, until Daishinji came back into view moments later, followed by Sophia.

Things were definitely not right at the Southern Base. They were involved in dark plots, and they’d kidnapped Sophia and Kento. No, Reika and anyone else there could not be trusted, and they needed to do what they could to make Rintaro, Ogami, and Ren understand this, so they could leave before anything terrible happened.

But one step at a time.

First, they needed to retrace their steps, hoping that the hallway was clear once again so they could reach the Book Gate and return to the Northern Base. Then they could rest, regroup, compile what they’d learned, and see about getting their friends back.

Touma’s grip on Kento tightened, and he felt Kento lean more heavily against him, a hand coming up to cling to his shirt. Their eyes met for a moment, and the small smile that played on Kento’s lips was more than Touma could have ever hoped for.

That was something to discuss later, however, but not so far in the future that it could be forgotten and buried under endless battles and tasks as swordsmen.

They’d been given this second chance, and neither of them intended to waste it.

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I am an absolute sap for the power of looooooove destroying the darkness in Kento. I'm sure you've all realized this since I've used it twice.


End file.
